Amino acid destruction in cooked meat?

[Foreigner]

Someone who is a vegetarian said to me the other day that the common view that meat is complete protein is true, but that once meat undergoes prolonged cooking (like boiling, baking, or frying), at least a couple of the amino acids are going to be lost. So if you think you're getting quality complete protein from meat, that's not correct (according to him).

I haven't been able to find anything online about this one way or the other, and I'm curious if anyone in the BL community might know the truth?

I know that cooking breaks down some of the natural enzymes in meat, like it does in vegetables... but no idea about complete proteins.

 

[RedLeader]

Denaturing protein has no effect on the body's ability to absorb the protein/aminos. The enzymes in the body (pepsin, chymotrypsin, trypsin) don't care about the structure. Non-denatured protein is a marketing gimmick.

 

[Foreigner]

Denaturing protein has no effect on the body's ability to absorb the protein/aminos. The enzymes in the body (pepsin, chymotrypsin, trypsin) don't care about the structure. Non-denatured protein is a marketing gimmick.

I get that, but the suggestion is that the aminos themselves are broken down / damaged / destroyed, so the body will no longer cleave them properly and then re-use in protein synthesis.

I just don't see how this can be true. If the breakdown was so extensive then the meat would look like total mush after being cooked. Although... meat isn't 100% protein, so it would be hard to see evidence of destroyed aminos just from looking at it.

Hence my question.